Quilting Stress

A friend of mine pieced this Chinese Coin top and asked if I would be willing to quilt it for her. I'm thankful for my friends who trust my limited quilting abilities enough to let me practice on their quilts, but it's a nerve-wracking process for me! I'm much more comfortable quilting my own quilts. Maybe once I put a few more hours on my machine it won't be so stressful to quilt for someone else. Thankfully I have a big stack of my own tops to practice on now...yes, there is a method to my UFO madness!

Did You Work On Your UFO This Week?

No, this is not a UFO, but it is another flimsy finish for Project Linus. Make a Blanket Day turned into Make a Blanket Week here at Hanging On by a Needle and Thread. I got caught up in the excitement of new projects once again and I never did get around to working on my UFO. Yes, I had said that I was going to have the UFO top all finished by Friday and I am hanging my head in shame, but I do think making quilts for charity is a fairly good excuse for ignoring my UFO and I'm sure my local Project Linus coordinator would agree with me!

Did you work on your UFO this week?

Spring Green

You would never know that spring is just around the corner by looking out my window this morning. Snow is falling and it is supposed to keep falling until we have a foot (or more) on the ground. I have a feeling that the only green I will be seeing for quite awhile is the green fabric in this tumbler top that I just finished for Project Linus.

Twisted Happy Blocks

My grandmother's favorite color combination was red and black, so when I saw the stack of red and black fabrics at the Make a Blanket Day event last Saturday I thought it would be fun to put together a red and black quilt for Project Linus in her memory. I'm using the Twisted Happy Block block pattern from MaryQuilts.com. These blocks are fast and fun to make and I think the end result will be a great quilt for Project Linus!

Circles For Linus

We had a wonderful time at yesterday's Make a Blanket Day event for Project Linus. There was a table full of donated fabric squares in every color imaginable for us to play with, lots of good food and quilty friends. I wanted to try something a little different, so I appliqued some bright circles on a white background and added a scrappy border...very simple, but so much fun!

Project Linus Make A Blanket Day

Just a quick reminder that today is Project Linus Make a Blanket day. Why not sew a few scraps together and make a quilt for a child in need? Find all the necessary information and free patterns online at www.projectlinus.org.

Did You Work On Your UFO This Week?

It's been a good week for UFO progress here at Hanging On by a Needle and Thread! I finished two UFO tops and still managed to work on the UFO Thangle blocks! I have three blocks finished and the last three are ready to sew together. My goal is to have this top put together by next Friday.

Did you work on your UFO this week?

Project Linus Make A Blanket Day

This Saturday members of the Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild will be participating in National Make a Blanket Day for Project Linus. Several of us will be spending the day working together to make as many quilts as possible to donate to our local chapter of Project Linus. It's always a fun time sewing with my quilty friends, but it's even more fun when we are sewing for such a good cause!

If you can quilt, crochet, or knit - please consider making a quilt or blanket on Make a Blanket Day for a child who needs a little extra love.

Remembering June

Mother Nature didn't take the hint...she sent more snow instead of green grass and flowers! I guess I'll have to find bright colors inside for a while longer. These blocks were from the Ami Simms' workshop that I attended back in June. (Remember June? Warm weather, green grass, blue skies, sunshine...oh, how I miss June! *sigh*) I made the blocks in the workshop, but for some reason I never took the time to sew them together. All I had left to do was to sew the rows together and add a border. Now I have another UFO flimsy to add to my growing pile of tops that need to be quilted!

Another UFO Flimsy Finish

Do you think if I keep putting pastel colored quilt tops in the snow that Mother Nature will take the hint and send green grass and flowers? The blocks in this top were some that I made as examples for a kids quilting group that I was helping with a few years ago. I decided to use the leftover fabrics from the blocks to make a scrappy setting and voilà...another UFO flimsy finish!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Did You Work On Your UFO This Week?

I think I may have made up for last week's lack of UFO progress. Not only did I get the tumbler top and backing pieced this week, but I also got one of the Thangles tops put together!

Did you work on your UFO this week?

The Flip Side

Yesterday's snow day project was to piece a backing for the tumbler quilt. The pink fabric that I had for the backing was just a bit to narrow, so I added a strip of tumbler blocks. It was a little more work than what I normally put into a backing, but I think it will look nice once the quilt is all together.

Snow Day

A good portion of the east coast is covered in snow this morning and although we aren't expecting the 1-2 feet that has been predicted for areas southeast of us, we still have enough to cause cancellations. All schools are closed along with several businesses as well as our guild's monthly charity sewing day. As much as I was looking forward to spending the day sewing with my friends, I'm glad that I don't have to go out today.

UFO Flimsy Finish

Do you remember these tumbler blocks? No? I'm not surprised! I cut them out way back in September and never got around to stitching them together. I even posted a photo of them all on my design wall HERE. If I remember correctly I took them down to put another project up and promptly forgot about the tumbler quilt. Are you starting to understand how my UFO's are born? It's obvious that I am too easily distracted by the glow of new projects! Anyway, I spent Saturday sewing with some friends and finished the whole top. I was surprised at how fast it went together. It is an easy pattern, but I suspect that it went together so quickly because I was in such good company. Maybe I need to plan more Saturday sew dates with my quilty friends, so they can help keep me focused on finishing these UFO's!

Peach Crumble Bars

I spent the day sewing with my quilty friends yesterday and took these bars along for us to snack on. They must have been a hit, because everyone requested the recipe!

Peach Crumble Bars

Crumb Mixture:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Filling:
1 jar (10 ounces) preserves (I used peach, but any flavor will work well in this recipe.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. For crumb mixture, in a large mixing bowl combine all crumb mixture ingredients and mix until all ingredients are combined and crumbly. Reserve 1 cup crumb mixture; press remaining mixture into the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan. Spread preserves to within 1/2 inch from the edge of unbaked crumb mixture. (Warming the preserves in the microwave for 30 seconds makes it easier to spread.) Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the preseves. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely. Cut into bars.

Did You Work On Your UFO This Week?

When I started working on this UFO project I said that I would post my progress on Friday's no matter how much progress there was or even if there wasn't any progress at all. This is one of those weeks when I don't have very much progress to report. I do have the Thangles for my next block pinned and ready to sew, so at least that's something!

Did you work on your UFO this week?

A Few More For Project Linus

I LOVE making these fleece blankets for Project Linus! It just takes a couple of hours from start to finish to create one of these little blankets, so they are the perfect project to work on while watching TV in the evening. You can find a video of how to make fleece blankets like the ones in the photo HERE.

Plan B

Originally I had planned to use the Buck A Blocks to make a Christmas quilt. It was a great idea when I planned this quilt back in 2007, but now in 2010 it doesn't sound as appealing. For one thing the 12 block quilt would be too large to quilt on my frame and what fun would it be to finish a top that I wouldn't be able to quilt myself? Plan B is to make two crib size quilts using 6 blocks each. I'll be able to finish the quilts myself and plus I can use some bright springy fabrics to help ease my spring fever. This decision has really breathed new life into this UFO project...I can hardly wait to get the blocks finished so I can put the tops together!

Fabric Origami

I stumbled across this origami purse tutorial at Quiltcetera not long ago and fell in love with it instantly! The actual pattern is for a little drawstring purse, but it can easily be converted into any size bag or basket. All you need is two squares of fabric and a few minutes of stitching time and you will end up with a wonderful little bag!